No answers on FOI from new FOI Commissioner; State inquiry hears murder allegations; Buses can cope with Harvest Music Festival

November 09, 2012 , 11:36 AM by Mary Bolling

Friday morning, and host Jon Faine's following up the announcement from Premier Ted Baillieu, that he's appointed the first-ever Freedom of Information Commissioner. But on her first day in the job, Lynne Bertolini's avoiding Jon's questions about her FOI record.

Ms Bertolini says she intends to "work with government agencies to ensure they're meeting their FOI requirements", but Jon has concerns about how her previous department dealt with FOI.

She's the former Director of Licensing Operations & Policy, at the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation. Jon quotes annual reports from the Commission - last year, it received 9 requests, and zero were granted in full. In 2009/10, it averaged 48 days processing time, in breach of the FOI act.

"I'm not here to talk about specific cases today," Ms Bertolini responds. "I understand there are a number of issues that people have raised with FOI across the public service in general - I intend to ensure there is a proper education program, and people work within the spirit of the legislation."

Jon points out her department breached the FOI act, and now she's in charge of it. "It just shows that we have a lot of work to do," Ms Bertolini says.

Also today, the Victorian inquiry into child sexual abuse will hear submissions - Dr Wayne Chamley is a volunteer researcher with Broken Rites, and he alleges two boys were killed while in the care of Catholic brothers in the 1960s. He says the allegations have been on the public record since 2004, and police have never investigated.

Finally, Harvest Music Festival in Melbourne's west created transport chaos last year when thousands of fans missed the last train home - this year, Metro says it will be smooth sailing, despite the fact that buses are replacing trains on the Werribee line.

Plus: the Friday video blog, where this week Jon discusses the lessons Australian politicians and political analysts can draw from the US Presidential election.

melbourne_mornings

Comments

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Thank you John for applying your well-known forensic skill to interviewing Lynne Bertolini as the new FOI commissioner. She was trying the classic stone-wall technique, and it is to your credit that you pursued your questions relating to her previous failures in replying to FOI requests. One wonders if Ms. Bertolini was appointed to use a similar stone-walling to all requests on FOI matters.